Steven Davis is facing up to having his season brought to a premature end.

The Rangers and Northern Ireland captain has been told that he may require surgery on a groin injury.

And as well as ruling him out of the Gers’ remaining Scottish Premier League fixtures, if Davis does have to go under the knife it will almost certainly mean him missing Northern Ireland’s friendly against Holland in Amsterdam on Saturday June 2.

Davis limped off early in Rangers’ victory over St Mirren 10 days ago and he will miss this Saturday's trip to Hearts.

“Steven Davis is struggling a little bit,” revealed manager Ally McCoist. “It's not been confirmed yet in terms of the extent of the injury, but it looks like he'll probably need a wee operation towards the end of the season.

“When he gets that done will be decided after a chat with the medical staff, but he won't be involved at the weekend, that's for sure.

“Missing our remaining games is a possibility and that's a concern, but he's going to see a specialist.”

McCoist, though, has some cause for optimism over his skipper ahead of the remaining five Scottish Premier League matches.

“It's certainly calmed down a lot since he came off in the game against St Mirren,” McCoist said. “It's still a niggle for him, but we'll know more once he's seen the specialist.”

Meanwhile, Rangers administrators Duff and Phelps have instigated legal proceedings against owner Craig Whyte's former lawyers — a claim understood to be in the region of £25million.

The move came as the administrators remain hopeful of announcing a preferred bidder for the club this week after holding talks with the two remaining interested parties yesterday.

Administrators hope a deal for the Glasgow giants can be concluded “without any further delay”, with manager McCoist calling for a quick resolution to the bidding process.

Former Ibrox director Paul Murray's Blue Knights consortium has taken a step back from the race to buy the club, leaving Bill Ng's Singapore consortium and American tycoon Bill Miller still in the running.

Paul Clark, joint administrator, said: “We would like to inform all Rangers supporters that today discussions have been held between members of the administration team and the two remaining bidders in the sale process.

“It is our intention to announce a preferred bidder this week and we can assure all supporters of the club that we are doing everything in our power to make that happen.

“We can also confirm that we have instigated legal proceedings against Collyer Bristow, the former lawyers of the club, and The Rangers FC Group Limited in the High Court in London for substantial damages suffered by Rangers Football Club.”

McCoist has called for administrators to name a preferred bidder as soon as possible after expressing concerns over the protracted nature of the bidding process.

The manager insists delays so far are hampering his ability to plan for next season.

He said: “There obviously have been developments and it looks like the preferred bidder status has moved away from the Blue Knights and perhaps headed to either the American bid or the Singaporean bid.

“Obviously, like all Rangers fans, I think the sooner the preferred bidder status is announced would be a big, big step in the right direction.

“The uncertainty and the lack of clarity about the future is concerning and worrying for everyone, be that players, staff or fans.

“I can totally understand everybody's concern and that's why I'm hopeful that it will be sooner rather than later.

“I won't lie to you. I'm really concerned and worried because we have a lot of planning to do.

“We have pre-season games and hopefully we'll try to arrange pre-season tours.